Struggling in a long distance relationship? Here’s my advice…

After only being in a relationship for a year and a half, my boyfriend got a job in London (I was living in Wales at the time) and our long distance relationship began. I was always planning to move down with him at some point, but for the next 8 months he was going to settle into his job first before I moved down there and before we made London our home. Long distance relationships are hard, they really test your patience and there will be some tears involved and you’ll wonder if it’s all really worth it.

I thought I’d share with you some advice I’ve gained from experience. I’m so lucky enough that my boyfriend and I got through it and we are still together 4 and half years later, but just to clarify I’m not a relationship guru and this advice might not work for everyone.

TRUST Obviously this is the main thing in any relationship, you can’t make it work without any trust. In a long term relationship trust needs to go a little further. Not having your partner come home to you after work or a night out can be hard and make you paranoid, but have faith and trust that they’re where they are supposed to be and doing what they’re supposed to do and it might seriously help.

PATIENCE Patience is keyyyyy and I can’t stress this enough. If they’re not texting or ringing you back, then there is obviously a valid reason for that. Have patience and keep yourself busy to take your mind off it, put on a movie or find a new programme to watch on Netflix, whatever it is just keep yourself busy and you’ll be surprised how quick time goes by and how they’ll finally reply.

PLAN PLAN PLAN One thing that kept me going whilst my boyfriend was away, was knowing when I was going to see him next. So whenever we had a weekend together, we made sure we booked something for a few weeks or months time so I felt good knowing that even though I was leaving him after the weekend, I was going to see him again soon. It also meant I could go home and plan things to do for when we were next together.

KEEP BUSY Go out with your friends, spend time with the family, go to the cinema, out for food, go clubbing, START A BLOG… Keep busy! Obviously we all miss our partners being away from them, especially if its for a long time, but keeping yourself busy will take your mind off missing them, even if it is only for a little bit.

THINK POSITIVE If you think negative thoughts, negative things will happen. Think positive thoughts, positive things will happen. Every time I was sad and lonely and missing my boyfriend, I used to tell myself “it will all be worth it in the end” and it will. If you both love and trust each other 100% you WILL make it work and you’ll be so proud that you both got through it all in the end.

Long distance relationships can be SO hard, so well done if you work through it, if not you know that that person wasn’t for you. I hope if anyone has been struggling lately I’ve helped them a little and if anyone has anymore advice, feel free to leave it in the comments so other people can read them too 🙂